The invention relates to a closure device and method for tissue repair.
Fibrous tissue wounds, such as muscle, ligament, and cartilage tears, can be repaired arthroscopically using sutures. Traditionally, to close a fibrous tissue wound, a surgeon would insert two suture needles into the tissue with sutures attached, thread the sutures across the wound, and then tie knots to fix the free ends of the sutures within the tissue.
To simplify the wound closure procedure and to improve fixation, various types of suture anchors have been developed. One example of a suture anchor is disclosed in Hayhurst, U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,330, which is incorporated herein by reference. In Hayhurst, one end of a suture is fixed to a resiliently-deformable, bar-shaped suture anchor. The anchor is loaded into the bore of a hollow needle and deployed into or against the fibrous tissue. The surgeon then threads the suture across the wound and tensions a free end of the suture to pull the wound closed. When the surgeon tensions the suture, the bar in the anchor becomes oriented transversely to the suture hole, anchoring the suture in place.